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The "Male Lead/Female Lead" Pairing Principle

As a multifandom person, I've noticed quite a bit of a pattern to how certain audiences ship characters.

Specifically, there's this thing where if a story consists of a male lead and a female lead who can both be seen as the "mascots" or "representatives" of that particular story, then they are incredibly likely to be shipped with each other by fans.

Examples:

Pomni + Jax from The Amazing Digital Circus

Charlie Morningstar + Alastor from Hazbin Hotel

Makoto Yuki + Aigis from Persona 3

Ichigo Kurosaki + Rukia Kuchiki from Bleach

And honestly, all four pairings do have some pretty interesting dynamics to go off of, and I can see why some people would ship them together.

Meanwhile, there's a female character who, despite her smaller role, has an equally-notable bond with one (or both!) of the leads.

Ragatha from The Amazing Digital Circus

Vaggie from Hazbin Hotel

Yukari Takeba from Persona 3

Orihime Inoue from Bleach

Compared to the popularity of the two leads, she's a very unfortunate target of unjustified hate. And a lot of it is for arbitrary reasons, whether related to one-dimensional viewings of her character ("she's boring!" "she's unlikable!") or her relation to one of the leads ("don't you dare get in the way of my OTP!") (In Ragatha and Vaggie's cases, there are a lot of unfortunate implications to the ship hate they get) All this despite the character itself being just as sympathetic and likeable as the leads, if not moreso--plus, their own bond with the lead(s) being quite endearing itself.

Admittedly, when it comes to the topic of romance and shipping, all four of these works take very differing approaches to them.

The Amazing Digital Circus will never have any of the ships become canon (barring one of the characters' backstories involving marriage), so fans are allowed to let loose in their shipping activities. Indeed, while FunnyBunny and JesterDoll both are popular pairings, some people prefer to ship Pomni, Jax, and Ragatha with other characters.

Hazbin Hotel has Charlie and Vaggie canonically be girlfriends. While they haven't won everyone over, Chaggie is well-liked as a ship, almost on par with Charlastor. And even so, the canon romance doesn't stop people from exploring Charlastor in tandem with Chaggie.

Persona 3, in all of its releases, is a bit of a dating sim thanks to its Social Link mechanic; thus, players have the option to date either Aigis or Yukari, or neither. When it comes to integrating romance into the story, however, things remain ambiguous between Makoto and his potential suitors, thus the shippers in this fandom are given free reign as well.

Bleach has Orihime's feelings for Ichigo, and it remains ambiguous whether he reciprocates or not while simultaneously giving some time to their interactions together alongside Rukia. The epilogue, however, makes IchiHime canon, showing the two getting married and having a child together.

In any case, a big reason as to why the "male lead/female lead" pairing can become so popular is because of the chemistry between the two characters. It's an especially strong case for Charlastor and IchiRuki.

However, in my opinion, "chemistry" doesn't necessarily equate to "romantic potential".

Of course, everyone has their preferences--you do you, I'll do me. However, I find it kind of odd that some people think that the chemistry between two characters is an automatic sign of the two falling in love with each other.

Sometimes, it's not as simple as that.

Sometimes, the bond between a guy and a girl never reaches "lovers" or "dating" status--they're just friends. Sometimes, that's much more special than if they were dating! The "besties" or "sibling-coded" energy a platonic duo has can be just as cute, if not moreso.

Sometimes, a "male lead/female lead" ship, at least in a "serious" context, kind of cheapens the bond they have in their respective sources.

So cold take: I think that FunnyBunny, Charlastor, Makoto x Aigis, and IchiRuki are more special and interesting as "besties" ships than if they were "romantic" with each other.

I'm welcome to responses in the notes, but please be respectful. And no antis allowed!